KUCHING: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) will defend its seven existing seats in the next state election.
However, the party’s president Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian said he could not reveal the details all at once.
“What I can say is that all the incumbents will defend their seats. Other details will come out in stages. I cannot reveal everything all at once or else all the cards will come out in one go,” he told reporters yesterday after attending Sarawak Federation of Chinese Association’s media night last Sunday.
The seven incumbents are Dr Sim himself (Batu Kawah), Lo Khere Chiang (Batu Kitang), Datuk Francis Harden Hollis (Simanggang), Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing (Meradong), Datuk Seri Huang Tiong Sii (Repok), Datuk Lee Kim Shin (Senadin) and Datuk Sebastian Ting (Piasau).
When asked whether any SUPP MPs would be fielded in the coming election, Sim said it won’t happen except in exceptional circumstances, but the party “as a matter of tradition” preferred workload sharing.
“There are a lot of young, capable Sarawakians around and we should share our responsibilities and workload. You want us to be like the Democratic Action Party (DAP)? Everyone will have two salaries,” he said.
Sim, who is also the Local Government and Housing Minister, pointed out that the date for the coming election had not been set yet.
He also said that the SUPP had yet to submit its candidates list to the chief minister.
“Like I said, all incumbents will stand. When you asked him (Abang Johari), he said he didn’t know. Why are you people (reporters) so anxious?”
On his Batu Kawah seat, Sim said he had done his best to serve the people and let the results speak for themselves.
